INTERNATIONAL CRICKET

London: Birmingham Bears have pulled off a major coup by signing New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum to help retain their NatWest T20 Blast title.
McCullum, whose runs as opening batsman helped the Black Caps reach the Cricket World Cup Final, has agreed to a seven-match deal with the Bears.
The 33-year-old, recognised...

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is just over. Besides the matches and the cricket, one highlight was IBM's Score With Data (@scorewithdata) campaign which transformed the premier cricketing event for fans as they gained never before insights into cricket, thanks to IBM's cutting-edge technologies. Twitterati Speaks is one key...

On March 7, 2015, at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, the South Africa vs Pakistan match at the Cricket World Cup 2015 captured the attention of a global audience. The high tension match kept fans on the edge of their seats until Pakistan achieved victory thanks to some masterful...

Melbourne: Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has surged to the top of the One-Day International (ODI) bowlers' rankings for the first time in his career following a stellar performance in the World Cup that saw him named the "Player of the Tournament".
Starc jumped two places to take the top spot. He...

New Delhi: Defending an under-fire Virat Kohli, Indian cricket Team Director Ravi Shastri on Monday said the swashbuckling batsman's ordinary run in the World Cup had nothing to do with his actress-girlfriend Anushka Sharma's presence and to call it that is "utter nonsense".
"If it was so, Virat wouldn't have got...

Cape Town: Did South Africa's cricket team dropped a white player and replaced him with an injured black player for a World Cup semi-final match to make their lineup more racially acceptable?
The question has revived an uncomfortable conversation over race and change in South African sport, where the two most...

New Delhi: Virat Kohli is expected to captain India in all formats at some point but before that happens the star batsmen must start taking more responsibility towards his team, says spin great Erapalli Prasanna.
"In all probability, Kohli will captain the Indian team in the next World Cup. For that,...

Miffed over the International Cricket Council's decision to keep him out of the awards distribution ceremony of the World Cup 2015, ICC president Mustafa Kamal has threatened to reveal "mischievous things" that he claims are taking place at the governing body.
It was ICC chairman N Srinivasan, who handed the World...

Colombo: Mired in controversies owing to allegations of corruption, Sri Lanka Cricket will now be run by an interim committee, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Monday.
The SLC Annual General Meeting to elect office bearers was to be held on April 30 and the nominations for positions were to be...

Melbourne: Two days after earning a fifth World Cup victory, Australia's best one-day cricketers will find out if they're in the mix for a five-Test Ashes tour later this year.
On Tuesday, Cricket Australia will announce their squad for a two-Test tour to the West Indies beginning June 5. Those players...

World Cup 2015 won't interest Indians anymore. Much has been written about the game, India's performance, and Virat and Anushka, but hardly anyone realised that one factor which really adds spice to the game -- analytics. It plays a key role in making not just the game of cricket but...

World Cup Cricket 2015 fever might have been over for majority of Indians after Dhoni and his boys lost their semi-finals against Australia. But in India, neither the cricket season ends, nor cricket fans' appetite for more. After the World Cup, the Indian Premier League matches seem set to treat...

Melbourne: Peeved at not being given the opportunity to hand out the World Cup trophy to the champions, International Cricket Council (ICC) President Mustafa Kamal on Sunday left the Melbourne Cricket Ground even before the final between Australia and New Zealand finished.
It was ICC chairman N Srinivasan, who handed the...

Melbourne: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday said that the 2015 World Cup has been the most followed and attended event in cricketing history.
"This World Cup has been the most followed and best attended cricket event in history. All over the world, hundreds of millions of fans have been...

Melbourne: AFP Sports looks at the main contenders to be Australia's next one-day captain following Michael Clarke's decision to retire from ODIs after Sunday's World Cup final against New Zealand:
Steve Smith
The favourite following his role as stand-in skipper in Clarke's injury absence for the last three Tests against India this...

Sydney: International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson has warned of the dangers of the game "spreading itself too thin" but said officials were still keen for the sport to fully establish itself in the United States.
The 2019 World Cup in England is set to feature 10 teams, four fewer...

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced the appointment of Ottis Gibson as England's fast bowling coach for the upcoming three-Test tour of the Caribbean in April-May 2015.
Gibson, who was England's fast bowling coach from 2007 to 2010, joined the West Indies team as head coach in January...

The highlight reels at the World Cup have been running hot with batsman smashing balls all over cricket stadiums in Australia and New Zealand.
Teams and individuals have been racking up record totals and the crowd have loved it, whooping and cheering every time another ball is dispatched into the stands.
With...

Sydney: The World Cup should be a "shop-window" not "window-dressing" for the game's emerging nations, International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson said on Thursday.
The ICC has come under fire for plans to reduce the number of teams taking part at the next World Cup, in England in 2019, from...

Wellington: Troubled New Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder, once touted as the Black Caps' likely World Cup match-winner, is once again in hot water.
The talented but polarising 30-year-old has been suspended from the final round of New Zealand's domestic competition after admitting a charge of serious dissent while playing for Otago...

London: Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has joined county side Surrey for the forthcoming season, the club said on Wednesday.
Pietersen, bidding to return to the international scene after being sacked last year, will be available for all forms of cricket, starting with Surrey's opening county championship fixture on April 19.
"I'm...

Karachi: A Pakistani court on Tuesday dismissed a legal petition seeking a life ban on fast bowler Mohammad Amir, just weeks after he returned to domestic cricket following a spot-fixing suspension.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) gave permission for the left-armer to return early to domestic cricket from his five-year ban...

Islamabad: Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq has confirmed his retirement from limited-overs cricket on returning from the World Cup, where Pakistan lost in the quarterfinals.
"I have played my innings, and I should stay away from it (ODIs). It's a challenge for the cricket board to find a new (ODI) captain," the...

Melbourne: World cricket governing body ICC on Thursday suspended Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza for one One-Day International (ODI) match and fined him 40 per cent of his match fee due to slow over-rate during their loss to India in the World Cup quarter-finals.
"Roshan Mahanama of the Emirates Elite Panel of...

He is suave, he speaks really fast, and has a balanced outlook towards life. He believes in god and follows the principle of being honest and standing up for the right causes. He wanted to study architectural engineering, but could not pursue the degree due to a lack of time,...

A year ago, England decided they could no longer live with the divisive dressing-room influence of Kevin Pietersen and ditched its most talented and prolific batsman.
The realisation is dawning on English cricket, however, that it can't live without him.
As the national team lurches from one embarrassment to another, Pietersen is...

Sydney: The ICC on Tuesday confirmed that TV umpire communications during decision-making will be put to air for the knockout stages of the World Cup.
With the first quarter-final between Sri Lanka and South Africa scheduled to begin on Wednesday at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the audio feed of the onfield...

Adelaide: Fast bowler Wahab Riaz played his first limited-overs cricket international in 2008, in a vastly different era for cricket in Pakistan.
A terrorist attack just over a year later in his hometown of Lahore means that all but three - all played in 2008 - of the 50-plus games he...

Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday that its annual conference will take place in Bridgetown, Barbados from June 22 to June 26.
"This will be the first time the ICC's annual meetings have taken place in the West Indies and with delegates from over 50 ICC Members expected...

Out of form and out of control, David Warner was a 'volcano' ready to blow when he punched England cricketer Joe Root at a Birmingham bar in 2013, the Australia's opening batsman has said.
The 28-year-old opened up about the incident in a candid interview with Channel Nine's current affairs show...